Ahead in the clouds

A few years ago, we’d have forgiven you for associating cloud services with weather prediction or high-tech wizardry involving strange cloud shapes… but not anymore. The fact is that there are a variety of cloud services available for personal use, and are beneficial for just about everyone and not just the geeky types. In a nutshell, these services enable you to access your data from virtually anywhere, and are mostly device and platform agnostic. So no matter what your device of choice is – from PC to Mac to Apple to Android – you can always access the files and services you most need. These popular personal cloud services really do have the potential to change the way you live and work. And we’re not exaggerating.

Dropbox
Just think of it as your personal USB flash drive, but located somewhere on the Internet. And by that we mean somewhere on Dropbox’s servers. 2 gigs of storage space is yours for the unarguable price of free when you sign up for an account on its website, but you can pay up for more storage space and added services. Download and install the client software on your computer (or phone or tablet), and it will make sure the data inside your local Dropbox folder and your online account remains in sync at all times. You can access this data from anywhere in the world, and from any device connected to the web – via the browser or using the mobile app that is available for pretty much all key mobile platforms. Dropbox also lets you do much more besides storing your data, such as letting you share it with others. Apart from Dropbox, there are quite a few other cloud storage services you could consider, including Google Drive, Microsoft’s SkyDrive, SugarSync and Box.

Evernote
Evernote’s tagline is ‘Remember Everything’, and that just about sums it up. Evernote is a free cloud-based note taker that lets you create (and store) notes, and then access them from anywhere using any device. Notes could include text, handwritten scribbles, drawings, audio or pictures, and these can all be organized and categorized that makes them easy to recall when you need to retrieve something specific. It’s basically your diary that captures experiences – be it personal or work-related. Again, Evernote can be used via the browser or any of the key mobile operating systems via apps. Needless to say, your notes remain in sync no matter how or where you use it.

Flickr
Since photos went the digital way and our phones became our cameras, making sure images we capture are organized properly and conveniently sharing them is an ongoing issue. Sure, Instagram and Facebook help, but they are social tools rather than full-fledged photo management utilities. Yahoo-owned Flickr is an online photo management and sharing service that ensures you can access your digital memories from anywhere in the world. Its mobile app is available for iOS and Android, and as usual, any internet-connected computer can act as a gateway to your pictures. Google’s Picasa is also another awesome alternative to consider.

Google Drive
Linked to your Google account, this is a great way to ensure you can access important documents on the go. What’s more, you can also share documents with others to collaborate on a project or keep others apprised of the status on a specific activity. Multiple people located in different places can simultaneously work on a document and view or comment on changes made by the collaborators. Apart from the browser, you can use the Google Drive app on iOS or Android to access your documents, and you could even mark specific ones to be made available for offline use.

Any.DO
This one is for the action-oriented. Not only is this the most gorgeous to-do list app, it’s highly feature rich and fun to use to boot. It can be used via apps available for iOS and Android, and on a computer with the help of an extension that works in conjunction with the Chrome browser. Like any other cloud services, to-dos you create on one device are synced to your account and can be accessed from other devices as well. You can organize your to-dos under categories or folders, set up reminders, and even call or email a contact from directly within the app.

Pocket
Pocket is a free ‘read it later’ service, and lets you ‘pocket’ online articles that you can get to later. It works hand-in-glove with a variety of other news and social apps, and can be used something like this: say you’re reading an interesting article using the popular news aggregator Flipboard on your iPad at work, but need to leave for a lunch meeting. Just save the article to your Pocket account using the share button, and you can continue reading the same article on your smartphone using the Pocket client on your commute home. Similarly, you can save articles or web pages using a variety of mobile apps or your computer’s browser and read them later at leisure. Client apps are available for all key mobile platforms and also for the Mac. There’s an extension available for the Firefox browser that lets you save web pages to your Pocket account and also lets you view your list. Similarly, there are extensions available for other browsers such as Chrome, Opera and Safari.